The present invention is directed to air conditioners and, more particularly, to the assembly of window room air conditioning units.
Air conditioning units such as so-called "window room air conditioners" are commonly used for residential and similar applications and generally include closed refrigeration circuits having an evaporator and a condenser. The unit is normally divided by a partition into an evaporator section and a condenser section. The evaporator section communicating with the room air to be conditioned and the condenser section communicating with external air such as outdoor air. Refrigerant flows through a refrigerant circuit absorbing heat from the room air at the evaporator and discharging heat energy to the external air at the condenser. The conventional refrigeration circuit is completed by the addition of a compressor, an expansion device, and the appropriate connections between the components.
Such an air conditioning unit usually includes a basepan supporting all of the components and an outer housing surrounding the entire unit. The front of the evaporator, or indoor section, includes an indoor grille, which has openings therein for directing warm indoor air into the evaporator and discharge openings therein for directing air back into the room. The outdoor section of the housing includes a plurality of openings in the sides and top thereof, which serve as inlet openings for cooling air which flows into the outdoor section and outwardly therefrom after passing through the condenser coil, which is mounted vertically in the back of the outdoor section.
In addition to the components mentioned above, the outdoor section also typically includes an outdoor fan and fan orifice, as well as an electric motor, which typically also drives an indoor fan. The indoor section also typically includes the aforementioned indoor fan, an indoor fan orifice, a control box as well as a fan scroll structure for directing the air cooled by the evaporator back into the room to be cooled. Each of the aforementioned components requires means for attaching it to the basepan and/or other structure of the air conditioning unit. Numerous approaches are known for assembly of the components of said unit. However, it is desirable to design a unit which may be assembled in a manner which will minimize the total number of individual components in the unit. The fewer components and the fewer number of attachment means results in lower material costs, less labor content and, accordingly, a less expensive unit.